


Don't Wish Too Hard or the Stars Will Hear You

by Finkledorf



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Identity Reveal, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-25
Updated: 2016-03-27
Packaged: 2018-05-28 23:38:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6350251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Finkledorf/pseuds/Finkledorf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marinette makes a selfish wish, and Adrien helps to pick up the pieces. </p><p>Pre-reveal, aged up to late high school.</p><p>I wouldn't read this if I was triggered by dis-associative memory issues, manufactured revenge porn or Chloe.<br/>Please don't kill me</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: Hawkmoth should really give Chloe a stipend

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome to the prologue
> 
> Things start off pretty rough but it'll pick up again (before going back down hill)
> 
> ((But don't worry because I am a sucker for happy endings))

It had started in the morning. For once in her life, Marinette was running early to school and had decided to spend the time with her best friend.

 

Alya had been chatting about her theories regarding Ladybug and Chat Noir's identities when Marinette found the envelope that had been put into her locker through a slot on the front. Alya had quieted as Marinette stared at the foreign object.

 

Eventually, Alya poked Marinette between the ribs. "Are you going to open that?"

 

Marinette nodded, but didn't move. Alya watched expectantly, and after a moment, Marinette began to wither under her gaze.

 

Marinette began to gently tear the envelope open, and gently drew the paper out as if it were a bomb. It was a high quality glossy page, and Alya crowded close to watch Marinette unfold it.

 

The first told revealed a pair of bright blue eyes, shining out from familiar black bangs. The commons seemed freezing cold. Marinette felt Alya tense.

 

Marinette hesitantly continued unfolding, only to reveal a (well endowed) toned body, shining with sweat, stretched provocatively across a couch in only lingerie. On the lower left hand of the page, her phone number was pasted in a fancy font.

 

Alya's hand shot forward and snatched the paper from Marinette's hand. She continued to stare at where the naked picture had been, trying to sort her way through the slurry of negative feelings that were growing in the pit of her stomach. She could practically feel the anger rolling off of Alya in waves. She heard the telltale sound of glossy paper being crumpled.

 

Questions began rolling around Marinette's skull. _How many people have seen this? Who would have done this? Why?_

 

Her questions were answered when she heard an obnoxious high-pitched tittering behind her.

 

"I see you've found my project."

 

Everything in the world stopped as Marinette slowly turned towards the source. Of course it was Chloe. Who else would it be?

 

Marinette felt a scowl coming on, and judging by the way Chloe's expression became a victorious smirk, she had noticed. "Don't worry, Marinette. I'm sure that someone will begin to like you, if only for your body."

 

Alya responded on Marinette's behalf, but Marinette had tuned them out, instead looking at the increasing number of people who were opening their lockers.

 

It seemed like there was a white envelope wherever she looked. Judging by the overall response, everyone would see it by the time the warning bell rang. A new set of feelings overcame her, and she felt numb. Cooly, she turned her attention back to Chloe, who was sneering at something that Alya had said.

 

Everything clicked into place in her mind, and at that moment, Marinette was finally able to define the new feelings.

 

Hatred.

 

Marinette took a deep breath. "Chloe."

 

Chloe just stared at her, waiting for any sort of reaction. Instead, Marinette locked eyes with the blonde girl, who looked at her with such a petulant self-satisfied expression that Marinette couldn't help but wonder how Chloe felt about being trapped in her own colon. "I just wanted you to know that no one would miss you if you were gone, and you can never change that no matter how hard you try."

 

Chloe began to sputter. Marinette turned on her heel and marched away from the school, catching only a small glimpse of Alya's stunned expression as she left.

 

When she had cleared the doors, tears began to blur her vision. She kept her eyes pointed at the ground, and tried to ignore the burning of her face as she took long strides as fast as she could. She heard voices around her, but ignored them as she kept going. Suddenly, a hand clasped her shoulder, and she was gently turned around to face the last person she wanted to see.

 

Adrien Agreste, looking at her with such concern that it made her heart hurt even more. "Hey, are you okay? What happened?"

 

Marinette opened and closed her mouth a couple of times as she tried to find the words to express what was happening. Instead, tears dripped down her face,

 

and she involuntarily let out a sob. Adrien's eyebrows furrowed as he scrambled to find the right thing to say. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, he heard Alya. "Marinette!"

 

She watched him turn to look at Alya, and when his attention was no longer on her, she gently pulled free of his hand and fled.

 

* * *

 

Marinette continued to run until she made it home. Her parents were usually power napping around this time, to give themselves a burst of energy and let things bake in the ovens before the cafe officially opened for business.

 

When she made it into her room, she threw herself into her computer chair. Tikki opened the clasp on her purse, and rose to look Marinette in the face.

 

"Marinette, what happened?"

 

Marinette stared at Tikki, mind still reeling at a hundred miles an hour. "Marinette..."

 

"Chloe photoshopped my face onto a picture of a woman and gave them to everyone at school."

 

Tikki tilted her head. "What's photoshop?"

 

Marinette chuckled, but it had a bitter tone. "She made the picture look real using her computer. If I wasn't me, I'd believe it was real, too."

 

Tikki took on a pitying expression, and for a moment, Marinette wondered if she was over reacting. And then, her phone buzzed in her bag. Tikki looked towards the source of the noise. "It's probably Alya checking on you. She loves you a lot, and she's probably worried about her best friend."

 

Marinette nodded, and smiled weakly. "You're probably right."

 

She fished her phone from the back pocket of her bag and turned on the screen. It was from a number she didn't recognize. A crudely taken cell phone picture of the photoshopped photo was attached. 'How much will it take to get you to show me the real thing?'

 

Marinette's face burned as she stared down at herself on the screen. Tikki gasped. "Oh no, Marinette, I'm so sorry, I didn't-"

 

"It's fine."

 

"Marinette-"

 

"Just stop."

 

The room hung in silence for a moment. Marinette dropped her phone onto the floor, and laid her head on her desk. "Tikki, why is it so hard?"

 

Tikki laid gently on the back of Marinette's head in a show of support. She said nothing, instead choosing to let the girl ride the tide of her feelings.

 

They heard the phone buzz from the floor again, and the sound of people in the room below them stirring.

 

Marinette twitched in panic. "My parents are going to be so mad to discover that I'm not at school!"

 

She groaned, and Tikki floated off her head. Marinette wiggled the mouse to turn on the display. She cringed when Adrien's face appeared. She couldn't help but remember the look of pity on his face when he caught her crying. No doubt he was laughing about the photo like everyone else right now. She was suddenly very conscious of the numerous pairs of green eyes sneering down at her from the wall.

 

She opened a word document. Tikki landed on the desk by her keyboard. "Marinette, what are you doing?"

 

"I'm writing a letter to explain what Chloe did to give my parents, because I don't know if I can tell them without crying."

 

Tikki nodded. "That's a good idea, Marinette."

 

Marinette offered a weak ghost of a smile, and began to type.

 

_'Dear mom and dad,'_

 

The phone on the floor began to buzz in long strings. Someone was calling her.

 

She heard her mother's muffled voice from the room below. "Marinette?"

 

She glanced at the caller ID. It was another unknown number.

 

She heard steps coming towards her room, and a sense of panic overtook her. "Tikki, I'm not ready to face them yet."

 

Tikki looked up at her from her spot on the desk. "Marinette, you're going to have to face them."

 

Marinette glanced at the trap door. The footsteps were coming closer. Marinette jumped up from her seat. "Tikki, we need to go."

 

"Marinette, no. I honestly think-"

 

The rungs on the ladder to her room began to croak. She heard her mother's voice again. "Marinette, why aren't you at school?"

 

Marinette scrambled up to the loft instead of letting Tikki finish. Tikki glanced at the trap door, and shot after her, trying to dissuade her from leaving, but Marinette couldn't listen. Her heart was beating at a rate that would make hummingbirds envious. She gently pushed the glass door onto the balcony open, and climbed out.

 

Tikki rose to face her charge. "Marinette, I-"

 

"Tikki, transform me!"

 

Then, she was Ladybug. She heard the trop door in her room clunk open. "Marinette, are you on the balcony? Alya just called me to check on you. What's going on?"

 

She couldn't see her mother from her vantage point, nor could her mother see her. Her eyes began to burn, and her throat tightened. She threw her yo-yo and swung away.

  
Sabine stuck her head out of the balcony hatch, and seeing nothing, immediately cried out for Tom.

 


	2. Chapter One: What a rough day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien's day has gone wrong, and he knows exactly why.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're in Adrien's POV from here on out.
> 
> I promise that this one only hurts 3/4s as much as the last one
> 
> Marinette isn't akumatized, I promise

Adrien was aware that something had happened as soon as he saw a furious, nearly-crying Marinette storm away from the school. Adrien began to worry. He'd never seen her act this way before, and she didn't greet him with a barrage of nonsensical almost sentences like she usually did.

 

Something was wrong, and he was overcome with the need to fix it, not only because Marinette was now at risk for akumatization, but also because she was his friend and deserved to be happy.

 

He reached out and put his hand on one of her shoulders. She turned around to face him, lips quivering through her scowl. "Hey, are you okay? What happened?"

 

She looked like she was thinking about talking. Her mouth opened, then closed. Her face twisted, and he spotted tears running down her face. She let out a sob, and balled her fists by her sides so tight that her knuckles turned white. Adrien felt a flare of anger. No one deserved to be driven to tears this way. He was about to press her for more details when Alya's voice broke the silence. "Marinette!"

 

Adrien turned to spot Alya rushing down the stairs towards them, and at the same moment, felt Marinette wrench away. "Wait, I-"

 

She couldn't hear him because he hadn't shouted. He watched her sprint away as Alya finally came to a breathless stop by his side. "What's up with Marinette?"

 

He looked over to see Alya's face contort into the scariest grimace he had seen in his life (including the Gorilla's.) "Chloe manufactured a picture of Marinette and distributed it to everyone in the school."

 

Her tone seemed to carry a promise of violence. His eyebrows shot up. "How bad is it?"

 

Alya whirled on him. "It's practically a naked picture, and if you even  _ think about looking at it _ , I will  _ personally _ -"

 

Adrien raised both hands in a gesture of defense. "I promise that I'd never hurt Marinette that way."

 

Alya relaxed, but only a little. Adrien immediately felt the target of Alya's malice shift. "We need to find Nino and do some damage control before things get worse."

 

* * *

 

 

Fortunately, Marinette's status as the class president and ability to get along with everyone (save Chloe and Sabrina) had meant that no one really believed that the picture was Marinette in the first place. Posing in such a risque way was so out of character for someone they knew to be consistently modest in demeanor and conservative in appearance. In fact, only a few people had actually  _ seen _ the pictures, because the people had seen them first had told everyone else not to look.

 

Alya had taken a trash bag around, and had gotten almost every picture back, save for a few idiots and a few absent students whose lockers they couldn't enter. Nino had helped by making a list of lockers to check off as the pictures came in to make sure they had a comprehensive count of how many pictures were still floating around. They had made a plan to swarm the principal with enough evidence that he couldn't refuse to punish Chloe out of fear of her father.

 

Adrien had been pleasantly surprised about the response that the student body had given to the situation, and he was sure that it was derived from some place in their hearts between how cool they thought Marinette was and how much of a terrible person they thought Chloe was. He had been sent to find the owners of the lockers that were still unaccounted for, and had given them the names and locker numbers of the students unaccounted for that day.

 

When the principal's office hours finally began, Alya had decided to take Nino and the bag of pictures to see him, which left Adrien completely alone for their first period class.

 

Adrien found his thoughts drifting towards Marinette instead of the topic of the day’s history lecture.  _ I will invite myself to go check on her with Alya and Nino during lunch. _ He thought, and gave a small smile to himself. He felt better, now that he had a plan to help Marinette feel better. Hopefully, she'd be calm enough to revert to her usual self.

 

Half way through the period, Chloe was called out of class. As she passed by his desk, she smirked at him, and his good mood was instantly quashed by anger. She had gone infinitely too far this time, and he couldn't bring himself to look her in the eyes or acknowledge her.

 

Chloe didn't return.

 

Nino and Alya arrived back in class as the bell was ringing, but both of them had expressions that he couldn't read and both of them scooped their things up as quickly as possible. Adrien gathered his stuff with the same amount of speed. "Why are we hurrying?"

 

Alya only spared him a quick glance. It was Nino who filled him in. "Dude, nobody knows where Marinette is. She didn't answer her phone when Alya called her six times, and her mom says that she left her stuff and her phone in her room. Alya and I are heading over there to help as much as we can."

 

"I'm going too." Adrien said. He was almost stunned by how stern he sounded, but quickly got over it. Alya and Nino were rushing out the door, and he hurried off to follow.

 

* * *

Natalie had been surprisingly understanding about the situation. The Gorilla had even come to help search for Marinette, but in the end, eleven at night had rolled around and there was still no sign of her.

 

Alya and Marinette's parents were inconsolable, and Marlena (Alya's mom) had agreed to let her stay with them in case Marinette came back in the night.

 

She didn't.

 

Adrien knew this because he and Alya had exchanged numbers so they could keep in touch about the situation, and Alya had said that Tom and Sabine were practically falling asleep on their feet as they vigilantly attempted to remain awake on the off chance that she’d stumble in through the bakery door.

  
Coincidentally, it was also the night of a meteor shower. As he stared up at the stars to watch the pieces of space debris burn in the atmosphere, Adrien couldn't help but make a wish.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll go ahead and give away the twist:
> 
> Adrien's wish comes true because of Ladybug's good luck, but Marinette's wish comes true because she's having an unlucky day


	3. Chapter Two: Red (and black spotted) Flags

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something's weird about Adrien's Saturday. He's got pieces here and there but he's still missing quite a bit of the picture as to why.
> 
> #NathalieCares

The third day after Marinette left was a Saturday, which made Adrien very thankful. He didn't realize how much of an impact the pigtailed girl had on the overall atmosphere of the class, but now that she was gone, it was like a black hole had opened. Even Sabrina could be caught staring longingly at the empty seat behind Adrien, despite her loyalty to Chloe. Nino turned around to give attention to Alya as frequently as possible, since seating was assigned and he couldn't move to sit beside her. This left Adrien with a lot of downtime to think about everything that was happening.

 

For once, solitude in his house managed to be a positive thing. It gave him time to think and to feel without interruption

 

Sure, he had cleared out this Saturday for the purpose of spending the day with his friends, but under the circumstances, that didn't really seem to be an option.

 

He lay on his back, staring up at the mile-high ceiling. Plagg drifted lazily into view. "Adrien, you're bored, I'm bored, why don't we go to a cheese tasting?"

 

Adrien rolled his eyes. "I'm not old enough to drink wine, and you're not supposed to be seen. I think people would get suspicious of a teenager stuffing smelly cheese into his shirt anyway."

 

Plagg's eyes shone, as if he had a secret joke that Adrien was about to walk right into. It was an expression he had only seen on Plagg's face a few times before, and it usually indicated that Plagg was about to indirectly give him important information, somehow. Adrien suddenly felt very uncomfortable. "Well if cheese is out of the question, let's suit up and see what fun we can have on the town."

 

Adrien's eyebrows furrowed. Usually, Plagg needed to be bribed or coerced into cooperating with a transformation, so to suddenly see him so eager to merge was a large red flag. "If we're going to suit up, we should look for Marinette."

 

Plagg nodded. "It's settled."

 

Adrien stared at Plagg, and Plagg stared back, both waiting for the other to make a move. Finally, Adrien broke. "Let's transform outside so I can let Natalie know I'm leaving. I don't want her to try to check on me later."

 

Adrien grabbed a small bag and put some Camembert in it, just in case they were out long enough to necessitate a recovery and re-transformation. He intentionally grabbed a jacket with pockets so he could keep Plagg out of that bag, otherwise the purpose would be defeated. There was only a little grumbling.

 

When prompted by Natalie, he told her that he didn't know when he would be home, but promised to be home by 11. He was surprised and thankful that she had offered a restriction so late, especially since he didn't have to bargain for it. When she read the expression on his face, she smiled. "You're nearly seventeen, and it's not a school night. You haven't been a problematic teenager, and your father told me to manage your restrictions. If you don't tell him how liberal I am when he's on trips and continue to behave, I will continue to be liberal as long as my requests are followed."

 

Adrien had never made a promise so fast before. As he left, he saw Natalie's expression change to one eerily reminiscent of Plagg's secret joke face.

 

* * *

 

 

As soon as he couldn't see his home anymore, he ducked into an alley and let Plagg out of his shirt. His kwami looked just as smug as he had before they had left the house. "Plagg, what's gotten into you?"

 

Plagg's smile widened. "I just think that things are about to get interesting, is all."

 

Adrien decided not to fish for answers. He knew Plagg would never give them. Instead, he triggered the transformation process.

 

He always loved transforming. It felt like the heat from a warm summer's day rolled over his skin, and the burst of freedom that accompanied the conclusion of his change left him feeling high on life.

 

He smiled, and used his pole to vault onto a nearby roof. From this vantage point, he could see into most of the nearby alleys and shops. Paris architects  sure do seem to love windows. He thought, allowing his usual smirk to curl onto his lips. He perched himself on the lip of the roof to get a better look at the street below, beginning to intently scan the crowds of unsuspecting parisians.

 

He wasn't expecting to immediately find Marinette, but Chat Noir still felt a pang of sadness that he hadn't.

 

Instead, he heard a thud from his left as his lady landed. "Hello, _Chaton_."

 

He turned his head to look at her. "Hello, Bugaboo."

 

She returned his smile. "What are you doing up here? Did you lose your date in a crowd?"

 

Chat Noir scoffed. "My lady, what a _paws_ -itively insulting thing to say. We both know that cats are exceptionally loyal creatures."

 

Ladybug rolled her eyes, and in a familiar motion, pushed him away by the nose as he tried to sneak in a kiss to her cheek. It was such a familiar motion that Chat Noir found himself at ease, and his smirk quickly became a content expression.

 

It took him a second to realize that she was still looking at him expectantly, with her finger still pressed to his nose. "If you must know, our friend Marinette went missing on Wednesday, and everyone's worried sick about her."

 

Ladybug's eyebrows rose. "Are you doing okay? Something like that is pretty rough to deal with on your own."

 

Chat considered his answer. Sure, he was upset and worried about her well being, but he still felt capable of eating, unlike Alya, who needed to be forced to eat anything. "I am worried about her, but I am doing what I can to try and help out the search efforts. Not many people know the city as well as we do."

 

Ladybug nodded, seemingly pleased by his answer. "I will help as well."

* * *

 

The pair only managed to get through a quarter of Paris before the inevitable akuma appearance.

 

This time, there wasn't screaming. In fact, there wasn't anything. Chat and Ladybug had been talking about where they were going to check next, when Chat happened to look at Ladybug and notice that there was someone behind her, trying to snatch her miraculous.

 

"Woah!" Chat instantly swung at the monochromatic akuma. The akuma leapt out of the way, and Ladybug turned around. "What the-?!"

 

They both fell into combat stances. Chat took a moment to analyze what the Akuma was holding, a thin bamboo pointing stick. "Ladybug, she has-"

 

The akuma pointed the pointing stick at Ladybug, and Chat was suddenly overcome with affection for his partner. Focus! He thought, trying to shake the intrusive distraction from his mind. He failed, and instead found himself completely distracted by the sunlight filtering through her eyelashes to bless her skin with innumerable freckles. His sucked in a breath and held it, as if afraid that if he exhaled too hard, he'd blow the sun-kisses from her skin.

 

He watched her intense blue gaze narrow, and suddenly, he felt himself able to focus again. He scanned the rooftops for the akuma, but she was gone. Ladybug confirmed it. "She's gone. We need to be very careful about that one."

 

Chat Noir was puzzled, and it seemed like Ladybug could read it off his face. "She just learned that she can only distract one of us at a time, so if we watch each other's backs, we should be able to spot her if she tries to come for one of our miraculouses again."

 

He noticed that there was a faint red tint on her face. "Ladybug, are you okay?"

 

She floundered for less than a second before coming out with a coherent reply. "I'm just not used to people looking at me as intensely as you did."

 

Chat Noir shifted on his feet, and looked anywhere except her face. He felt a bit awkward, now. Usually he was much more subtle about memorizing the details of her face. "S-sorry."

 

Ladybug offered an awkward smile. "It's okay, I know you couldn't help it. I wish I would have figured out how to use my lucky charm fast enough to catch her, though."

 

She held up a children's motion-based noise machine for him to see. He blinked. "What are we supposed to do with that?"

 

"I don't know." She replied. There was a brief silence as they considered the possible usefulness of such an off object, but it was interrupted by a familiar chirp as Ladybug's earrings signaled her remaining time.

 

"I'd better go." She said.

 

"That's a good idea." He agreed.

 

And she left. He could practically hear her earrings beeping again as she took off.

 

Chat moved closer to the middle point of the roof where where no would see him before releasing his transformation to start his timer over. When he came into view, Plagg smirked at him. "Seems like your lucky day if you get to spend it all with your lady love."

 

Adrien's face heated up, but Plagg (intentionally) didn't notice. "To be honest, I'd pick a day with a nice roll of camembert over lady loves any day."

  
The boy rolled his eyes. Plagg happily consumed a couple of the camembert pieces from his bag before re-transforming.

* * *

 

Hours and miles later, Chat was quickly losing hope about finding Marinette or the akuma, and he hadn't seen Ladybug in hours. Fortunately, it was only seven in the evening, so he still had time to spare.

 

That still left the akuma problem. It was times like these when Chat wished that Ladybug would realize that they could solve most of their problems if they could find a way to communicate with each other outside the mask. He tried not to picture a beautiful girl with bright blue eyes and a pair of pigtails sitting on a couch watching an action movie instead of trying to find the akuma.

_Maybe I should bring it up again, so that next time I remember that she said no, I can be consoled by the fact that it's not because I'm not trying._

 

As if on cue, he spotted a blur of red in his peripheral vision. Next, he spotted a flash of bamboo. He felt irate, and more driven to find Ladybug than before.

 

Only, as he went to leap into the street from the lip of the building he was on, he heard it.

 

Loud children's music.

 

He whirled around, only to find that Ladybug and the Akuma had been battling just out of his line of sight for who knows how long. Sometimes, Ladybug would be distracted by the object, but as soon as the akuma gestured, she lost her focus and would begin something else. Immediately, he knew the purpose of the children's toy. Ladybug had managed to stick it to the Akuma's back.

 

 _Wait, what does the akuma even look like?_ He was jolted by the knowledge that he hadn't even looked at the thing before it had gotten him fixated on Ladybug.

 

The akuma was taller than them both by a small margin, with a high bun of black hair and a featureless mask over her face. When he took a closer look, he realized that the victim was wearing platform boots that reached all the way to her thighs. Beyond that, she seemed to be wearing a skintight black jumpsuit, but in an incredible oversight, she was also wearing a dramatic cloak with a three foot long hood, where the noise machine had made it's home.

 

It was almost comical, watching the woman fiddle with her hood to get out the toy, stop to distract Ladybug, then go back to trying to find the toy. Rinse and repeat.

 

He realized that neither Ladybug or the Akuma had noticed that he was paying attention. They kept leaping from rooftop to rooftop as they danced. Chat realized what he needed to do.

 

He sprinted towards the opposite side of the roof, towards the fight, and leapt onto the other building. Both had noticed him, and both were trying to use his new presence to distract the other. He was struggling to catch up to the fight, not because he was slow, but because of the head start they had on him.

 

Nobody seemed to be able to take and hold the upper hand, until the akuma had tried to pull the same trick as before. He felt his eyes being inexplicably drawn towards Ladybug’s lips as they pursed in frustration. He almost lost sight of what he was going to do, until his focus snapped.

 

_“A-B-C-D-E-F-G”_

 

Chat Noir blinked in confusion. _Where is this music coming from?_

 

_“H-I-J-K-LMNOP”_

 

Oh. OH.

 

Chat Noir drew his attention away from Ladybug, and spotted the akuma beginning a gesture.

 

From his vantage point on the roof, he had a clear shot of her wrist extending and his extendable baton, so he did the only thing he could think of.

 

_“Q-R-S”_

 

He swung his baton at her wrist.

 

_“T-U-V”_

 

She wouldn’t notice his aim in time, especially because she had already begun gesturing and it was too late to stop. He smirked, and a pun fell off his lips. “I guess I kind of missed the _point_.”

 

He could faintly hear Ladybug groan.

 

_“W-X”_

 

A _crack_ sounded as Chat felt his baton connect with it’s intended target. The bamboo pointing stick hit the ground, and Ladybug was able to snatch it before the akuma could pick it back up.

 

_“Y AND Z. NOW YOU KNOW YOUR A-B-Cs, SHAKE AGAIN TO SING WITH ME.”_

 

The bamboo stick took a moment to snap, but Ladybug was able to get it broken over her knee. The corrupted butterfly within frantically beat it’s wings in a futile attempt to escape, but Ladybug was too fast, and had purified the akuma in the blink of an eye.

 

The lucky charm toy crashed to the ground and began to sing again as the victim’s akuma appearance melted off. Chat Noir offered the woman a hand as Ladybug finished the ritual by fixing whatever damages had been done.

 

The woman was confused, and stammered out a _thank you_ to the heroes before being put back on the sidewalk and sent on her way.

 

That meant that Ladybug and Chat Noir were alone for their traditional fist bump. Chat smiled at his partner, who returned the gesture.

 

She turned to leave, but he gently caught her wrist. “My Lady, wait.”

 

And then he was overwhelmed, because she turned her beautiful gaze on him with complete attention. “What is it, _Chaton?_ ”

 

He took a deep breath and let go. This conversation would happen now, he decided.

 

“I think we should exchange civilian phone numbers. So this doesn’t happen again.” He gestured vaguely away from himself.

 

“Civilian phone numbers?” Ladybug asked, quirking an eyebrow. Her earrings began to beep as she neared her time limit again.

 

“Yes. I mean, that way we can keep in touch when we’re not Ladybug and Chat Noir.” He clarified, wilting under her intense look. To his surprise, she laughed at him. “Oh, Chat, I’ve _always_ been Ladybug!”

 

He watched her calm down from her chuckling and haw-hawing with concern. “What do you mean?”

 

“I mean that you might be a civilian under that mask, dear _Minou_ , but I am always Ladybug.”

 

He gaped at her. If what he was gathering was true, then she didn’t have a second identity, but that was literally impossible based off of what he knew of the Miraculouses. (Which was close to nothing, to be fair. Plagg was always vague and dodgy when he tried to ask about something that the Kwami didn’t want to share.)

 

She wiggled her fingers at him with a giggle, threw her yo-yo, and departed. Again. Somehow _more_ mysterious than she had been before the battle.

 

Adrien decided it would be a good time to go home and do a bit of interrogating.

 

His ring beeped, and he started back towards the mansion (or at least a place to transform.)

  
_I’m sorry, Marinette, I promise I’ll find you soon._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHAT????


	4. Interlude: Plagg gets real sick of hearing about Ladybug all the time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short chapter. There will be a longer one posted as soon as I finish it, but I figured that it would be an okay spot to take a moment and have someone give the poor boy a clue before he lost his mind.

“Plagg, you said that everyone who had a miraculous had a kwami.”

 

“I did say that.”

 

“But Ladybug just told me that she’s always Ladybug. How can her kwami run all the time like that?”

 

“They can’t.”

 

“But then, how would Ladybug be able to stay like that all the time?”

 

“That’s a good question, isn’t it?”

 

Plagg had lost interest in the circular conversation over an hour ago. Since he wasn’t able to see anything when Adrien was Chat Noir, he had heard the conversation second hand from the boy more times than he could count. At this point, Adrien had been re-analyzing every breath he had ever seen Ladybug take and asking the same series of questions for one hour and fifteen minutes. Plagg, fortunately, had talked Adrien into giving him some cheese before the Ladybug panicking had started, so at least he wasn't starving. However, the boy continued to rant at him, and Plagg was bored out of his mind. Without any need to participate more than the occasional reiteration of something he’d already said, Plagg laid himself on Adrien’s pillow, face down.

 

“Plagg?”

 

He realized that he had tuned out of Adrien’s rambling ages ago. Sighing petulantly, Plagg flipped over to look up at Adrien. “Kid, why don’t you care about cheese this much?”

 

Adrien glared down at the cat kwami. Plagg closed his eyes in consideration for a moment. “Look, if she’s Ladybug all the time, why did she still leave when her earrings began to beep?”

 

Plagg was met with such a deep silence that he worried that the boy had vanished while his eyes were closed. He opened one green eye and found Adrien’s face contorted in an expression he couldn’t read.

 

Adrien began to slowly nod. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

 

Plagg could almost hear the hamsters in Adrien’s brain squealing from over-exertion, and decided to take pity. “You said that she’s  _ always _ Ladybug anyway, so why don’t you go ask her? I will transform you for one half-wheel of Camembert, because I am feeling genero-”

 

“Plagg! Transform me!”

  
_ Worth trying, at least. _ The Kwami entered the ring and the transformation was initiated.


End file.
